If you break the law while attending college, you may be worried that it’s going to hinder your academic career. After all, that education was a building block toward your eventual career in the workforce, and now all the plans that you’ve made could be derailed. Are you going to be expelled from college and lose the chance to get an education over a single mistake?
First of all, this happens automatically with a lot of different felony charges. Schools will remove students, but it is often more of an administrative measure. Someone who is convicted on felony charges will likely be spending time behind bars and would not be able to go to school anyway. But if you get a lesser charge, could you still get expelled?
Does your school have a code of conduct?
For more minor crimes – drinking underage, driving under the influence, committing petty theft, using illegal drugs, etc. – an automatic expulsion may not occur. These charges may not be felony charges and a conviction may result in penalties like probation or fines, meaning you could still attend college.
In that type of situation, you’ll need to look at the code of conduct at your school. Technically, every school can set up a code of conduct saying that students need to behave in a certain way to be allowed the privilege of attending the university. If the school determines that you have violated that code of conduct, then they would be within their rights to expel you. This certainly doesn’t happen in every case, however.
As you can see, there are a lot of questions about your future and what this could mean. Take the time to carefully look into your legal options
